Guardians. Michael’s House.

Do you believe in youkai (supernatural creatures of Japanese mythology), demons and other mythical creatures? I believe many will answer in the negative. But this is in vain, because one cannot say that they do not exist. Although before I was the same as you. But one incident turned my world upside down.

  This event happened when I was about 25 years old. Then I traveled in search of a new plot for a book. True, it was not easy. After looking at many different places, I didn’t find what I wanted. The last destination was the village of Bibury, UK. That day there was heavy fog, nothing was visible.  I stopped not far from the village. It started to rain, so we had to speed up and find shelter. And the rain got heavier every minute. So, when the clothes were wet to the skin, a house was found. It was not just a small house, but a whole mansion, like something out of a horror movie. I knocked on the door and a cute girl dressed like a maid opened it. She has black hair tied up in a large bun, brown eyes and the look of a stern lady. She kindly smiled, let me into the house and went to get a towel, showing me where I could change clothes and clean myself up. The inside of the house was incredible. It is made in Victorian style, every detail of the interior is very carefully thought out and matches the spirit of the old mansion. It felt like visiting an important person. The girl brought a towel and helped dry my hair. Having changed my clothes, I decided to look around, but the maid took me by the hand, took me to the guest room and forbade me to leave it until the owner came. After waiting for about half an hour, the door opened and a boy in a dark blue suit, who looked to be about fourteen years old, entered the room. His blond hair shone golden because of the candle flames, his blue eyes sparkled with happiness, and he had a very sweet, joyful smile on his face. He eagerly approached me, took my hand to shake and said in a joyful voice:

- Welcome! I am the owner of this mansion, Michael. I'm very glad to meet you!!

  Because he squeezed my hand so hard, I couldn't say anything. Realizing that I was not comfortable, he let go of his hand and sat down on the next chair. After apologizing for his behavior, he introduced himself again. Over a cup of tea, we started talking. It turned out that only Michael and Ruth (the maid) live in this house. And the house is located several miles from the village. Evening was approaching and having agreed that tomorrow they would show the way to the village, we decided to go to our rooms. Ruth showed me to my room and left, saying that it was better not to leave the room late at night. These words alarmed me, but forgetting about them, I fell asleep. True, my sleep did not last long. He was interrupted by a noise that sounded like several people talking. I thought it was strange and I went out to find out what was going on. Walking down the corridor, I opened the door of the room from which the sound came.  It was a very large room, completely hung with paintings. Taking a step, the noise, as if by magic, disappeared. I felt somehow uneasy, but still entered the room. Walking through picture after picture, which depicted various natural landscapes and houses in bright colours, I didn’t notice anything unusual. But, the picture depicting snowy mountains evoked a strange feeling. It seemed as if the picture was alive. An incomprehensible white spot began to appear in the picture, from which a snow-white hand suddenly emerged and grabbed me by the shoulder. My heart beat quickly, and at that very moment my legs suddenly rushed away from this place.   Having reached the exit, Ruth grabbed me and led me into the living room, where Michael was sitting, trying to calm me down. Eventually, having calmed down, I decided to listen to them. Seeing the bewilderment on my face, Michael decided to tell the truth. The truth was very interesting, and incomprehensible to science.  Michael! Archangel! Protector of creatures! Mystical! Paintings! Mansion! Guardian! What?! What's going on here?! Yes, it was hard to believe, but after what I saw, there was no need for proof. After digesting all this, a crazy idea came to mind. I need to write a book about this! Excessive curiosity, interest enveloped my thoughts, I couldn’t wait to get to work, no matter what it would cost. I wanted to beg to stay, but Michael was the first to offer. Without hesitating for a minute, I agreed. So I began to learn the secrets of the mansion.

  At the beginning I saw fairies! Ogre! Snow Lady! With delight, my heart almost jumped out of my chest. Having seen the everyday life of the mansion, I wanted to experience all the delights of the world of this place.  I was especially interested in the basement, which Michael forbade me to enter, saying that it was dangerous there. But my curiosity got the better of me. And I still entered the basement. There were also paintings that smelled of danger. I heard a sad voice coming from a painting depicting a green meadow. In the middle sat a huge skeleton, looking into the distance. He turned his head in my direction and looked with a look full of sadness. I somehow felt sorry for this skeleton, because he is doomed to sit forever in this colorful cage. I wanted to touch the painting, but Michael stopped me and took me from the basement to the living room, telling the story of this skeleton. This huge human skeleton is the youkai Gashadakuro - a skeleton created out of the sadness of unburied souls who died with regret or anger.  Gashadakuro was born due to the death of an entire village, which almost no one knew about, and none of the residents were buried properly. The youkai's only desire was to see his native expanses, but, unfortunately, instead of his native land, a huge city has stood for a long time. Therefore, Michael cannot help Gashadakuro, because if people notice him, then panic will begin, which could harm him and others. But the desire turned out to be much stronger. On the night of this day, the unexpected happened in the mansion. Gashadakuro broke out of the painting and headed towards the village of Bibury. Imagine a huge skeleton heading straight towards the village, of course there will be general panic, and to avoid this we need to bring our friend back into the picture. There was a noise in the mansion. Ruth went to the village for the safety of the inhabitants, Michael and I decided to go after the skeleton to return it to the picture. We were helped in this by two crocottas (a mythical creature, a hybrid of a dog and a wolf or a hyena and a lion, with a human voice), named Leo and Tseno. They are very fast, so it was not difficult to keep up with a skeleton more than 15 meters tall.  When we caught up with him, Michael began to say something indistinctly and in a stern voice said to keep the picture not far from the skeleton. Tseno explained that Michael was casting a spell to return Gashadakuro to its place. Small lights shone around and surrounded the skeleton, pulling him back into his old home. Having barely avoided disaster, we returned to the mansion. Having hung the picture in place, we went upstairs, but frightened villagers were waiting for us there, who told us about a large skeleton. After listening to the residents, Michael decided to help Gashadakuro.  In the morning, having packed all the pictures and things, we hit the road. Stopping not far from the big city, on a hill, Michael opened a painting of Gashadakuro, saying: “This is your home.” Gashadakuro, looking at the city, shed tears and disappeared into the sky like a thousand little lights. Michael turned and said:

- We have to go!

 And I realized that I want to stay... 

  And so began our exciting adventures!!!